Windows and windshields for vehicles such as road vehicles, air craft, and ships, and buildings such as homes, public buildings and garages are often provided with roller shades for the purpose of shielding the sunbeam and/or preventing the view from outside. Also, a cover may be provided between the passenger compartment and the luggage compartment of a vehicle as a partition. Covering the luggage compartment of a vehicle is preferable to the end of discouraging theft.
A typical roller shade comprises a spring-loaded retractor attached to a lower end of an opening such as a rear windshield, an opague or semi-transparent screen sheet having a trailing edge attached to the retractor, and a rigid rod member attached to the leading edge of the screen sheet and guided for a translational vertical movement. The screen sheet is normally wound around the retractor, and can be paid out from the retractor by pulling out the rod member away from the retractor. Typically, the rod member may be hooked or otherwise secured to an upper end of the opening with the screen sheet in its fully extended condition. When exposing the opening, the screen sheet is retraced and wound around the retractor by a spring incorporated therein.
In copending patent application Ser. No. 07/703/177 filed May 20, 1991 and claiming the Conventional priority data of May 23, 1990, it is proposed to use a screen sheet having a non-rectangular shape to cover a window or opening having a corresponding shape, and incorporate a telescopic structure to the pull rod to accommodate it to the changing width of the window as the pull rod is moved vertically. The contents of this copending application is incorporated herein by reference.
Modern car design requires streamlined vehicle bodies from aerodyamic as well as aesthetic view points, and such vehicle body design in turn requires three-dimensionally curved borders for windows on the exterior of the vehicle and areas for dividing a luggage compartment from a passenger compartment.
When such a window having a curved border or a curved window frame is to be covered by a conformal screen sheet, the rigid pull rod is unable to align itself to the edge of the opening because the edge is normally not straight, and an uncovered gap may be created between the edge of the window and the pull rod. For instance, if such a gap is present between the upper edge of the rear windshield of a motor vehicle and the pull rod of a roller shade intended for covering the rear windshield, direct sunlight passing through this gap may penetrate deep into the passenger compartment, thereby substantially diminishing the usefulness of the sun shade.